


Keeping a Secret

by iflywithhedwig



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Teenagers, Consensual Underage Sex, First Time, Horny Teenagers, M/M, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Relationship, Oral Sex, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Underage Drinking, Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-03-08 03:22:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3193424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iflywithhedwig/pseuds/iflywithhedwig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John goes to Texas to visit Dave for a whole month in the summer. John finally meets not only his best friend, but his best friend's older brother. He falls in love with Bro, but Bro is dating his boyfriend of two years, Jake English. Jake is the only one allowed to call Bro "Dirk". One night, when John can't sleep, he sneaks out of Dave's bedroom to sit in the living room with Bro. Bro tells John to call him "Dirk" because he considers them friends. John accidentally calls Bro "Dirk" in front of Jake and everything seems to fall apart right in front of John's eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's all about us

**Author's Note:**

> This little darling fic was made for my little darling Britt!!! She’s also my beta reader and my inspiration. (She actually requested that I wrote brojohn and I took her up on it!) I hope you guys like it as much as I hope Britt liked it (-8
> 
> A little side note: Dave and John have been internet friends for the past 3 or 4 years and they're both juniors in high school (so around 16/17 years old). It's summer time, so the following school year they will be seniors!!

EB: im so excited to come to texas!!! ive never been there this is going to be so fun  
TG: dude its gonna be more than fun  
TG: its gonna be fucking amazing  
EB: my dad just pulled up, ill text you  
EB: see you in texas!!  
TG: see ya dude  
TG: dont get hit by a car or fall out of the plane  
-EB has signed off-

Dave pushed away from his desk, turning his monitor off with the click of a button. He rolled across his room in his office chair to his door. Before he could open it, Bro flung it open, almost hitting Dave in the face.  
"Hey," Bro started, but he was cut off by a sword swiping past his nose and hitting the brim of his baseball cap. It lightly fell to the floor with a small swoosh. Bro smirked and chided, "Nice. I guess you're excited for John to come?"  
"Shut up," Dave murmured under his breath, standing from his chair. He threw his strifing sword behind him and it landed on his bed with a muted thump. He shoved past Bro and walked into the kitchen, situating himself at the small circular table. Dinner was on the table—a bucket of chicken from KFC—similar to every other day. They ate fast food a lot because Bro hated cooking, even though he was amazing at it. He said it wasted too much of his precious time and that Dave didn’t appreciate his cooking to its full potential, so why bother? It was one of his many secret talents. Dave nodded his approval of the food to Bro as he sat down.  
"When does his plane land?" Bro questioned, wiping the grease on his hands onto his jeans. Bro was completely against napkins too—they were just for wiping your greasy hands, weren't jeans just as good? (Dave thought he was hopeless.)  
"6:45," there was a hint of a smile on Dave's face but it was gone in less than a split second when Bro dropped a chicken wing onto the floor and whistled for Cal.  
Cal was a huge pure white German Shepard with bright blue eyes. He ran into the room and skittered across the linoleum, claws tapping against it loudly. He ate the chicken clean off the bone, which he then dropped on Bro's sneaker. Dave snickered and stood up, leaving his dirty plate and paper towel (he was a civil human and bought them with his own money because he thought Bro was gross) on the table. He went back to his room, moved his strifing sword back to where he had been next to his desk and laid on his bed. With phone in hand, he absentmindedly locked and unlocked the screen, checking for texts. He saw one in particular from his best friend but it had been received about 10 minutes earlier.

EG: dude im getting on the plane im so freaked out ive never been on a plane before!!!  
TG: its gonna be cool  
TG: send me a bazillion pics of the clouds and shit  
TG: maybe a spaceship  
TG: if you see aliens dont call nasa  
TG: call me  
-EB has signed off-

John shut off his phone, like the attendant asked him to. There was no time to reply to Dave or even call him! Why did that nut want him to call him? He was on the plane already on his way to stay with him for a month! There was absolutely no need for calls right now. John sat with his hands in his lap and his seatbelt tightly fastened around his waist. He had been the first one on the plane. He tapped a beat that was very offbeat onto his leg.  
The plane departed and John was so ecstatic to be finally going to visit Dave. His palms were sweating at the mere thought. He kept checking the time on his watch, but it made things worse. It felt like time was literally crawling. He straightened up and leaned his head back and relaxed for the next couple hours he would be on the plane. He popped in his ear buds and let a stream of mixes that Dave created flow into his mind and soothe him. Suddenly, the flight attendant's voice sounded over the intercom and she said, "we'll be landing shortly, please fasten your seat belts!" John barely heard it over his slumber, but the woman in the seat next to him started moving around to gather all of her stuff. The playlist had ended some time ago but he hadn’t realized since he was sleeping with his mouth open and a small snore escaping his lips. He wiped drool from his mouth and wiggled in his seat, tugging on the seatbelt. He looked out of the window and saw the plane shifting downward. He couldn't tell if his stomach was doing flips because of the turbulence or from his extreme nervousness to meet his best friend from the Internet.  
Meanwhile, Dave was pacing back and forth in front of Bro, who was sitting in the waiting area, where John was supposed to meet them. He was looking frantically around for John, but still trying to keep a cool demeanor (which he was failing at). He had a nervous habit of checking his phone every six seconds and it was starting to get on Bro’s nerves.  
"Chill," Bro ordered. He grabbed Dave's elbow and dragged him to sit in the seat next to him. Dave let himself fall backwards into the seat, huffing a defeated sigh. Bro didn't smile, but there was warmth in his voice as he said, "He'll love you, dude. The kid already loves you."  
Dave seemed to ignore him as he shoved his phone into his pocket, only to remove it six seconds later and leave it on his lap, just in case John called him. The screen lit up with a miniscule vibration and Bro thought Dave was going to jump out of his skin he reached to answer it so fast.

EB: hey dude i just landed i should be out in like 20 mins  
EB: these ladies are taking forever  
EB: who even knew ladies with their dogs could ride on planes with their dogs in their laps???  
TG: cool cool  
TG: were sitting directly in front of the gate where people wait or whatever  
TG: its hard to miss bro hes a big guy  
TG: hes like 6 foot and wearing those stupid sunglasses  
-EB has signed off-  
TG: i hope you can find us

Dave sighed at his phone and Bro gave a puff of breath that served as laughter. He left his phone on his lap and leaned his head back to look at the high glass ceilings and at the sky beyond them and simply waited for his best friend to arrive.

John trotted down the walkway toward the exit, two large suitcases trailing behind him on either side. There was a small backpack on his back that he tended to carry around normally. It had all of his necessities such as a cell phone charger and a collapsible tooth brush and mini toothpaste inside. He weaved his way through the extremely busy airport, trying to find the exit gates where Dave told him he was waiting. Everyone had an accent here. It confused John at first, since their vocabulary was also completely different, but he was adjusting pretty well. After all the years he had spent talking to Dave over webcam or the phone, John felt like he could understand any weird lingo these Texans brought to the table. Lost in thought, John bumped into someone. Before he could apologize, he was enveloped in a big, tight hug. He inhaled sharply as his breathing was restricted, which in turn made him squeak. He opened his eyes to see blonde hair blocking part of his view and he instantly wrapped his arms around the other person who was squishing him.  
“Dave!” John giggled almost breathlessly into his ear. He blew blonde hair out of his mouth, squeezing the other boy a bit harder. Dave had not let up his fierce grip on him yet and John couldn’t help but laughed. “Dude, I think that was the longest we've gone without texting. Three hours and twenty minutes is a long time for us to not be in communication with each other!”  
“Shut up,” Dave muttered with an obvious smile on his face as he hugged John even tighter. “Shut up and let me enjoy this stupid moment.”  
“Can you hurry up and enjoy this stupid moment a little faster ‘cause I am starving and-” John paused, looking past Dave’s wavy locks to see Bro sitting behind him with a faint smile on his lips as he watched them. John released Dave’s side with one hand so he could wave to Bro who nodded back. Dave released him, hands still lingering on his sides as he backed up. They just looked at each other for what seemed like a long time. Bro cleared his throat behind Dave and Dave held up his hand. He stayed like that for a few more seconds. His eyebrows were knit together behind his sunglasses like he did when he was in great concentration. John couldn’t stop smiling as his best friend was standing in front of him, his hand on his side, and his eyes focused on his face. Dave cracked a smile and dropped both of his hands to his own sides, relaxing a little.  
“You down for pizza?” Dave smiled wider as John enthusiastically nodded. He grabbed the handle of one of his suitcases and strolled toward Bro, who was already calling in the order for the pizza. Dave couldn’t help but feel his chest flutter as he walked behind Bro and John. His two favorite people in the world were in front of him and soon to all be located within the same apartment for a large sum of time. He was ecstatic, but he couldn’t help but feel extremely nervous and somewhat self-conscious as they walked out of the airport and into the parking lot to Bro’s old and rusted pick-up truck.


	2. If you like your coffee hot, I'll be your coffee pot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a little side note:  
> the plastic container is like one of those plastic containers with 3 drawers that college kids buy from walmart??? i don't know if that clarifies anything haha but i felt like i should add it just in case anyone gets confused!!!

John relaxed as Dave closed the front door of their little rented townhouse and joined him in the kitchen. He was standing there awkwardly, his two rolling suitcases on either side of his hips. Dave gave a small chuckle as he walked past John and opened the fridge. He pulled out a can of soda and popped the tab.  
“You can bring your stuff upstairs into my room. Mi casa es su casa for the next month. Lighten up, champ,” Dave snickered, sipping at his soda as he lead the way up the creaky staircase.  
John took most of his clothes out of his suitcase, since Dave bought a plastic container with drawers for him so he could kind of feel at home. He sorted the clothes by shirts, pants, and underwear within the drawers, before turning around and sitting on the floor to face Dave, who was sitting on his bed with his knees up. He finished the soda and crumpled the can, throwing it into the waste basket by making hand motions like a basketball player. John giggled as he stood up, joining Dave on the bed. Dave kicked off his sneakers to reveal bare feet, which John stuck his tongue out at. They both laid back on the bed and started laughing. It felt good to be so close to his best friend. John had never felt so content in his life, even though he was boiling in the Texas heat because Dave broke his AC unit that sat in the window sadly.  
“It feels weird,” John murmured, turning his head to look at Dave, who also moved to look at him. Dave still had those stupid dark sunglasses on. It was impossible to see his eyes.  
“Whatcha mean?” Dave pursed his lips, flipping over onto his side and tucking his knees to his chest between him and John.  
“It feels weird being so close to you. Ya know?” John smiled, big and goofy as always. Dave nodded and closed his eyes. Less than a second went by before Bro barged into the room. The door swung open and hit the wall, leaving a dent. Bro had this look on his face like he wanted to strife, but Dave was too lazy to get up. He didn’t even open his eyes. John had shot up in his seat and almost fell forward off the bed.  
“Dinner’s ready,” Bro smiled very slightly before leaving the room, not bothering to close Dave’s door.  
“What he really means is, he went and bought pizza.” Dave huffed, eyes still closed, as he reached out to grab at John’s shirt. “Lay back down. Continue what you were saying. Pizza will still be there after you finish.”  
“Oh gosh, I don’t remember what I was saying,” John bit his bottom lip as he laid back and shifted closer to Dave. He turned onto his side and brought his knees up to touch Dave’s. “Probably something dumb, I’m good at that.”  
Dave didn’t answer as his breathing slowed. His hand was still gripping John’s shirt at the bottom brim, but John didn’t care. It was pulling against his skin gently, making it a bit uncomfortable the way he was lying, but he could feel the warmth of Dave’s hand on his skin. John slipped his phone out of his pocket and took a silent photo of a dozed off Dave. He tried to check his texts, he had a few unread messages from his Dad and his little sister Casey, but he ended up dropping his phone square on his face. The small squeak he made woke Dave up with a start. He drew his hand back instantly and John felt the warmth leave his hip.  
“Right. Pizza.” Dave yawned as he sat up. John stood up and held out a hand for Dave. He took it and John pulled him up off the floor. His mattress was on the floor because Dave felt it made him less susceptible to one of Bro’s ingenious but annoying pranks. The two of them walked down the stairs, Dave leading the way, as they scampered into the kitchen like hungry dogs. Upon arrival within the kitchen, John instantly noticed a new face. Dave seemed to not take notice to the man sitting next to Bro at the table. While they were piling slices of cheese and pepperoni pizza, as well as boneless wings, onto paper plates, John couldn’t help but ask.  
“Who’s the other guy?” John whispered, motioning with his eyes at the man who was laughing heartily at something Bro had said about Dave. Dave acknowledged Bro’s comment by kicking an empty chair at him so it hit his knee under the table. Dave furrowed his brows and made a grunt of disapproval at John’s question. John shrugged and grabbed a paper towel, following Dave’s lead into the living room. They planted themselves on the couch with their feet up on the ataman in the middle of the sectional.  
“That guy,” Dave started, a mouthful of food making his words muddled, “is Bro’s boyfriend. His name is Jake.”  
“Bro’s gay?” John almost choked on his pizza as he whipped his head to the side to look at Dave. Dave smirked a little, resting his paper plate in his lap.  
“Yeah, dude. I’m totally sure I mentioned that. Isn’t it obvious? He’s like the biggest homo I know. Why do you think I always say no homo after everything?” Dave nudged John in the ribs with his elbow, the tiniest smirk appearing on his boneless wing sauce covered lips. He licked them off with a quick swipe of his tongue. John couldn’t help but stare as Dave’s little pink tongue stuck out from behind his teeth to clean off his soft yet plump bottom lip. Woah, woah woah. What? John shook his head and focused on Dave’s sunglasses, trying to get that weird image out of his head. Why was he suddenly so interested in Dave’s lips? He hoped Dave hadn’t noticed because that would make things awkward. They were already discussing how gay Bro was, he didn’t really need Dave thinking he was just as gay. He definitely wasn’t gay! He had kissed plenty of girls before! Okay, well, he kissed his cousin once when he was 10 but later on his dad told him that was weird and that he shouldn’t kiss his family members on the lips.  
While John was lost in thought, he was spaced out while still looking at Dave’s sunglasses, which also meant he was staring Dave right in the eyes. “Dude,” Dave laughed, waving his greasy pizza in the air between them. John seemed to snap out of his weird trance and smiled goofily.  
“Sorry, woah,” John couldn’t help but laugh. He covered his face, trying to hide the fact he was blushing. He got red really fast when he was embarrassed. John knew it was hard to see through a webcam when they were video chatting, but they were in person now so it would’ve been extremely obvious that he was burning up. He tried to combat his reason for blushing by saying, “Sometimes I just space out and stare at things, no matter what they are.”  
“Me too, dude,” Dave reassured him. He hardly even noticed that John was trying to cover his face because his gaze had been brought back to the television and the weird evening cartoon that was on. Dave had finished his pizza and wings a lot faster than John had, so he was up off the couch and cleaning up the living room while John continued to eat and watched him. Dave grumbled out, “Fuck Bro, what the fuck… He said he was gonna clean but he didn’t do any—”  
Dave was cut off by the clacking of claws on hard wood floors upstairs. His eyes widened behind his shades and his eyebrows raised above his shade. He grabbed his plate off the side table next to the couch. He motioned for John to give him his plate before running into the kitchen.  
John sat on the couch looking extremely confused. He had never seen Dave run that fast before. Dave returned as the sounds of claws were heard on the wooden, creaky staircase. He dove onto the couch next to John and forced John’s knees up to his chest. “Stay right here,” Dave urged him. He sounded so serious and so concerned and John had absolutely no idea why.  
“Uh,” was the only thing John could make out before a huge dog flung itself around the banister from the stairs and darted at them like a bleached bullet. It was enormous and fluffy and looked like a wolf but ran like a bat out of hell. John clung to Dave without realizing it as the dog jumped up at him and started barking and trying to lick his face. John shoved his face into Dave’s neck, keeping it away from the beast.  
“Cal,” Dave shouted, wrapping one arm around the back of John’s shoulders and using the other arm to push the dog down. He grabbed his collar and pulled him downward so his paws slipped off the couch. “CAL!”  
Bro came trotting down the stairs, closely followed by Jake. They were both laughing hysterically at Dave’s protectiveness, John’s scaredy-cat behavior, and Cal’s hyperactivity. Dave glared at Bro from behind his shades, completely unamused by the fact that Bro had done this on purpose. “Dude, not cool,” Dave chided, his jaw clenched as he tried to calm Cal down while still holding on John’s shoulders. He continued with, “You know John doesn’t like dogs, especially not big dogs! You’re such a dick.”  
“How was I supposed to know?” Bro tried to sound sincere but he couldn’t stop laughing so it made it hard to take him seriously. Dave finally calmed down Cal. He let go of his collar and he sat really still, waiting for Dave’s next command. Cal was Bro’s dog but Dave was the one who taught Cal any and all the obedience training he knew. Cal even knew how to play dead when you fake shot a gun because Dave really wanted to be able to reenact death scenes from movies.  
“John?” Dave cooed, looking down at the boy curled into his chest. He had his eyes shut tightly and he was biting the inside of his lips. “It’s cool, bro. Bro’s a dick, but Cal’s really cool. He’s calm now.”  
“You sure?” John murmured, opening one eye to look up at Dave. He responded with a nod and a small rub of his shoulder. John held his breath as he leaned away from Dave and looked at Cal, who was sitting about a foot away with his tail wagging happily. His big tongue was lazily falling out of the side of his mouth as he panted. John reached out to Cal, who gratefully smelled his hand. He stood up and wagged his tail faster, moving towards John. He flinched as Cal rested his big head on his lap. John pet Cal’s head while Dave and Bro started yelling at each other about something. John took his eyes off of Cal for one second and suddenly there was a crushing weight on the lower half of his body. Cal had jumped up onto the couch and was trying to lay on top of John. “What do I do?” John whispered urgently, looking at Dave with panic in his eyes. Bro and Jake had evacuated the living room and went back upstairs, leaving the two of them alone again.  
“Relax and let it happen. He thinks he’s a lapdog because Bro spoiled the shit outta him when he was a pup.” Dave shifted over a little and laid down, his head on the arm rest. John couldn’t move anywhere else so he slumped over and rested his own head on Dave’s thigh.  
“He’s like a heavy blanket that squirms a lot,” John giggled, petting the top of Cal’s head which made him wag his tail with a continuous thump to the back of the couch. Dave yawned and reached his head down to play with John’s hair, as if John was suddenly a dog. John didn’t complain though. No one had ever played with his hair before, except his sister, but she usually either braided it or pulled on it. It felt really nice. Dave’s hands were still just as warm as they had been in his bedroom when he was touching his hip. Suddenly, it dawned on him that Dave didn’t wash his hands after eating greasy pizza and saucy wings. “Dude, gross. You’re touching my hair with your nasty hands,” John wrinkled his nose. Dave stopped, withdrawing the warmth away from his head.  
“You want me to stop?” Dave asked. He could hear the slight frown in his voice.  
“Dude, I said it was gross, but I never said I didn’t want you to keep going,” John felt Dave’s hand go right back to where it had been before and he grinned against his leg.  
After the movie on the television ended and they went back and forth with dumb comments, Dave took Cal out into their backyard to “use the potty” (as Dave endearingly asked Cal if he needed to go, to which he ran to the backdoor and sat there). When they returned, Dave turned out all of the lights except the one in the kitchen above the stove. Cal laid on the floor next to the couch after Dave sat back down. John was splayed across the entire couch so Dave climbed onto the top before sliding down and making room between John and the back of the couch.  
“Dude, we can’t both fit on the couch like this,” John laughed as Dave wiggled behind him, pushing him off the edge. He was trying not to touch Dave because he wasn’t sure if that was weird or not. John cuddled with all of his friends back home, but he wasn’t sure if the Texan would find that weird. He assumed Dave had never cuddled with anyone before.  
“We fit before,” Dave grunted, pulling his arm out from under him. His other arm was shoved between him and John’s back, which was the only place their bodies were touching. “Hold on,” Dave mumbled. He took the arm that was facing the ceiling and wrapped it around John’s waist. He pulled him closer, shifting a little. His breath was tickling the hair on his neck, but it was warm and comforting. John felt himself melt into Dave’s somewhat boney frame, but he felt he fit perfectly. He let his eyes slide closed as he felt a slight warmth on his stomach, Dave’s fingers barely brushing his skin.  
“Guess we fit,” John sleepily said. Dave squeezed him a little before sighing against the back of John’s neck.  
“Told ya,” Dave’s lips were resting against John’s spine. He could feel them move when he talked, a slight hum vibrating his skin. John felt Dave’s breathing mellow out and he felt so relaxed. He shifted slightly and felt Dave press his hand against John’s stomach, as if he was making sure he didn’t move. John reached above them and grabbed a fleece blanket from the back of the couch. It was just big enough to cover both of them, even though John’s feet stuck out a little. Although they didn’t have AC, it got cold in Texas at night and the windows were all open. John pressed himself against Dave so any gap between them was closed and their warmth was trapped under the blanket. John reached down and intertwined his hand with Dave’s. He felt the shorter boy grip his hand in return. A small chuckle escaped the seemingly sleeping boy’s lips against John’s flesh, which made John blush. He thanked the heavens that it was dark in the room and Dave couldn’t see his face because he was as bright as a ripe tomato. John finally relaxed enough to close his eyes after watching mindless television for what seemed like hours, but was only a couple minutes. He matched his breathing to Dave’s and let himself doze off for good this time. It was around 2 in the morning when he finally started snoring quietly.


	3. He's the tear in my heart, take me higher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOAH GUYS  
> I ADDED A CHAPTER AFTER 2 YEARS. T W O WHOLE YEARS. I am so sorry to anyone who enjoyed this before and was very greatly let down by my 2 year absence???  
> I am the literal WORST author on this site because I literally wrote the first two chapters of this story and then FORGOT ABOUT IT FOR 2 YEARS...... (mostly because I went to college oops).  
> I AM SORRY  
> PLEASE ENJOY THOUGH!!!

It had been one week since John arrived in Texas, and he could undoubtedly say it had been the best week of his life. Him and Dave went on all sorts of adventures, visited a cool museum in the city, and played a shitload of video games. They critiqued movies and ate terrible food, spent an entire day sitting in a park where they fed the ducks then got chased by angry geese, and walked around the historical part of Dave’s city pretending to be drunk at 3 in the afternoon.

When they woke up, it was a muggy Friday morning and both boys were exhausted from all the shenanigans in the past week. Before leaving for work, Bro suggested they wait for him to get home from work so that the four of them could enjoy a movie night together.

“I hate bumming around. I feel like I’m wasting an entire day,” John chided, blowing air through pursed lips to make an exasperated noise. Dave chuckled under his breath as he continued to flip through the dead channels on the television. They stole their cable from their neighbor (since it didn’t come with the apartment—it costed extra), so some of the channels were blurry or completely static. He left it on Animal Planet, where two lions were grooming each other with bloody muzzles next to a freshly killed antelope. He shrugged and threw the remote onto the loveseat where John was sitting with his feet up on one of the arm rests. Dave laughed at John’s tiny squeak when the remote hit him.

“Pick a channel. There is absolutely nothing on during the day. Everyone is supposed to be working or at school, or some bullshit like that.” Dave hung upside-down, his knees curling over the back of the couch, as the top of his head rested on the wooden floors.

“I love Animal Planet, why would I change it?” John was mesmerized by the African safari show. He sat up straight and was entirely focused on it. Dave waved one of his arms, trying to get John’s attention silently, but ended up sliding off of the couch head first. He laid on the ground and sighed up to the ceiling, watching the fan spin.

“Let’s do something before I die of boredom,” Dave smirked, flipping over so he was on his stomach. He army crawled to John’s chair and grabbed his ankle. He yanked him onto the floor and John looked terribly alarmed as to what just happened. Dave couldn’t stop laughing at John’s facial expression, so he let himself fall flat onto the ground. His cheek was pressed against the wood as he laughed, while John began laughing simply because Dave was being ridiculous.

“Let’s go visit one of your friends?” John suggested, sincerity in his voice. Dave stopped laughing, letting the sticky cold of the floor soak into his skin before he decided to respond.

“I’m cyber-schooled, John. I don’t really have a lot of friends,” Dave bit his bottom lip. He rolled onto his side so he could look at John better. Before John could speak and make himself look even stupider (because duh, John knew Dave was cyber-schooled! He just totally blanked), Dave nodded and continued with, “I have a couple friends. They’re kinda weird though. I’m warning you now.”

The two of them got dressed, since they had still been in pajamas, and freshened up before going on their next adventure together. John was slipping on his shoes, with his back to Dave’s bedroom door, as someone walked in and swung the door open.

“Ready to go, Dave?” John said, not even bothering to look behind him. He and Dave were the only two people in the house at the moment.

“Where ya goin’?” An unfamiliar voice chimed, causing John to stand and turn around. Jake was standing in the doorway. His wavy black hair framed his face, just as his glasses did, and his five o’clock shadow hung on his jawline evenly.

“I think we’re gonna go grab lunch then visit one of Dave’s friends,” John smiled, trying to be friendly. He never really had any interaction with Jake, even though he’d been there for an entire week and Jake had also been present. Dave skirted past Jake, ignoring his presence.

“Mind if I come?” Jake quietly asked, as if his voice alone was enough to set off Dave (which it totally was, Dave even said so himself the first night John was there).

“No.” Dave very sternly growled. He was scouring his room for something, moving things and looking under his bedcovers. “John, did you see my phone charger?”

“It’s in the kitchen, under the table,” Jake whispered, his voice getting quieter and quieter.

“Thanks, John,” Dave narrowed his eyes as he swiftly walked around Jake, hardly acknowledging him.

“I guess that’s a no,” Jake said more to himself than to John, but John made a tiny noise in the back of his throat. Jake just looked at him funnily.

“We’re having a movie night tonight. When Bro get’s home. You’re invited? I think? Maybe?” John had a hard time getting his words out, but Jake understood and his bright green eyes seemed to sparkle as he nodded.

“See you later then,” Jake called out, a slight whistle in his voice as he trotted back to Bro’s bedroom, where his office phone was ringing. Jake travelled a lot for business, therefore he was a very mobile worker. This meant that while he was staying with Bro and Dave, he set up a tiny office space on Bro’s desk where he worked from during the day.

“Are  _ you _ ready now?” Dave laughed, leaning against the wall in the hallway as John emerged from his room.

“I think we can leave now,” John scrunched his nose. As he walked past Dave he smacked him on the back of the head. “Be nice to Jake! He doesn’t seem that bad.”

“Oh, trust me, John. He’s insane.” John laughed at what Dave said, but Dave wasn’t laughing.

They returned from their brunch at the diner, where they met up with one of Dave’s friend’s named Rose, who was a waitress there, and they laid on the couches again. John grumbled about being full and Dave whined about still being hungry but not having enough spending money of his own to have bought more food while they were out.

Dave stood from his position and went to scrounge around in the kitchen for a snack. “Want anything?” He asked offhandedly toward John, who was once again completely engrossed in a different Animal Planet show.

“Mmmf,” John mumbled in response, his head sitting in his palms as he stared intently at the television.

“Guess that’s a no,” Dave laughed as he opened a pantry and moved around different boxes of all sorts of snack foods.

“If you eat something now you’ll spoil your dinner,” a voice said from behind Dave, which made him jump and slam the cabinet door closed. He twirled around to see Bro walking into the house carrying a gigantic bag from KFC. He grinned and set it on the kitchen table proudly and said, “Since I’m the man of the house I hunted down dinner and cooked that shit right up.”

“You’re such a great hunter,” Dave raised his eyebrows, peering over his sunglasses. “John and I just got back from getting lunch at the diner. Wait… Why are you home so early? It’s like, barely 3 p.m.?”

Dave’s confused expression was met with a chuckle. Bro simply said, before departing from the kitchen, “I got out early. It’s Friday. It’s summer. My boss man is cool. Besides, it’s movie night!”

With a shrug, Dave rejoined John in the living room after grabbing two juice boxes. He lobbed one to John before sitting by his feet on the couch. They decided to marathon almost every episode of Ouran High School Host Club while playing their Gameboys. They had already eaten three bags of popcorn each and devoured most of the candy they had in the house before the “movie night” with Bro and Jake was set to commence.

At exactly 9 o’clock Bro and Jake, along with Cal trailing behind them, came downstairs and demanded the two younger boys move to the smaller couch so they could sit on the big couch.

“Bro, please,” Dave whined, as Bro began pulling his legs, forcing him to slump onto the floor. “I literally said I would get up. Why are you like this. Why are you doing this. Why. Stop. Ugh.”

“You were too slow,” Bro stuck his tongue out, letting go of Dave’s legs so they dropped to the floor with a loud thump. He stood up and relocated to the much smaller loveseat couch, curling into the corner and resting his head on the arm rest. John quickly followed suit and sat next to him, their feet touching as they both balled up onto the couch. One of them grabbed the fuzzy blanket from the back of the couch and covered both of them.

“What movies are we watching?” Jake quietly asked. He had grabbed the KFC bag and sat down next to Bro, offering him a fried chicken leg. He pointed towards the side table and said, “Hey, Dirk, can you pass me my water?”

John looked at Dave, his eyebrows knit. He thought to himself, “ _ Dirk? Who was Dirk? Why did Jake just call Bro Dirk? Was that some sort of weird pet name that you call a boyfriend?” _

John pulled out his cellphone and quickly texted Dave.

 

EB: who is dirk??????”

 

Dave covered his mouth to try to keep his laughter to a minimum. Jake and Bro didn’t seem to notice as Dave silently shook. It took a minute for him to regain his stature before typing out:

 

TG: that’s literally Bro’s real name. dude. i’ve totally told you that before hahahahahahaha your face right now is priceless

 

John felt the heat creeping up from his neck to his cheeks as he got redder and redder. Dave patted John’s knee, before shifting and laying his head on the other boy’s thigh. The movie was barely halfway and Dave had begun softly snoring. John looked over at Bro and Jake and realized Jake had fallen asleep too, but Bro was chowing down on some chicken. Bro noticed him staring and waved a chicken leg in the air, motioning to John and asking if he wanted any. John shook his head and turned to watch the movie. His face was getting hot again.

John and Bro both finished the movie and the end credits woke both of the snoozing boys up. Jake sat up and stretched, rubbing his eyes, and Dave made noises of protest as John tried to shift his body.

“Stop moving,” Dave complained, wrapping his arms around John’s thigh.

“I really have to pee, though!” John gently swatted at one of Dave’s arms until he released him, grunting and pouting. He rolled onto his back and looked up at John.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed,” Dave yawned out. “You don’t have to sleep yet if you don’t want to.”

“Okay,” John gave him a sincere smile. “I’m not tired, so I might just watch some TV until I am.”

“We can watch another movie?” Bro cocked his head to the side, looking at John. “Jake has work in the morning so he’s out for the count.”

“Sorry for being a working man,” Jake rolled his eyes. He kissed Bro goodnight before heading upstairs to bed. Dave shrugged. He passed by John and lightly touched his arm with his finger tips before disappearing around the corner and following Jake up the stairs.

After John returned from the bathroom, a new movie was already playing and Bro had turned off most of the lights in the room except for the string of dim Christmas lights that were hung around the edges of the ceiling. He sat down where he was sitting before and Bro laughed out, “What? Do I smell bad? Some sit over here. You can’t see shit from that seat--I would know, I’m the one who lives here.”

John frowned a little at the “living here” comment, but stood up and joined Bro on the big couch. They both had ample room to lay down with Bro’s feet tucked behind John near his knees but not touching him at all. John had grabbed the blanket from the other couch and had it wrapped around himself, but he felt selfish so he decided to share with Bro.

“Thanks,” Bro’s voice was cut off by a very loud fight scene in the movie. John just nodded, feeling somewhat weird about sharing a blanket with a grown man. Wait, why was this weird? Why was he suddenly feeling so strange about this? They were friends! (Sort of.) Friends do things like this. At least, him and Dave are the kind of friends who share blankets and lay on opposite sides of the couch while kind of half-cuddling. Wait… When did Bro start touching him? He suddenly felt the warmth of Bro’s legs on the back of his legs underneath the blanket.

“Have you seen this movie?” John made small talk, trying to get his mind off the fact Dave’s older brother’s legs were literally pressed against his. Why was John sweating so much all of a sudden? He really hoped Bro couldn’t feel him sweating through his basketball shorts.

“Nah,” Bro suddenly shifted, getting even closer to John. “Heard it was real bad, wasn’t gonna watch it, but I know you really like animals and shit.”

Before John could even respond to that statement, Bro was sitting up and pulling the blanket off of John. Even before John could react to the sudden coldness he felt, Bro was cuddling up behind him. He was being big spoon. Dave’s older brother was literally being the big spoon. Why was this happening?!

John flinched as Bro flopped behind him and Bro felt it. “Comfy? Good. I was cold. You’re really warm so I’m going to leech the warmth from your body.”

John swallowed hard, feeling a new heat against his butt. It was soft, yet very, very warm. His face was bright red, but he prayed that Bro couldn’t see it in the dim lighting. “Yep. So comfy. And warm,” was all John managed to choke out as he tried to turn all of his attention toward the television.

Bro kept shifting behind John, trying to get more comfortable. His hot breath was setting John’s neck hair on end. John couldn’t help but think: was this considered cheating on his best friend? He had only ever cuddled with two people: his little sister when they were younger and Dave, his best friend. Now, he guessed, he could add his best friend’s older brother to the list. How fucking weird was that.

After about ten minutes of feeling somewhat uncomfortable, John felt Bro’s breathing even out and he stopped shifting. He assumed he had fallen asleep from the lack of movement, so he tried to slowly reach for the remote that was in Bro’s hand, resting on his hip.

“Don’t like the movie?” Bro asked, holding up the remote. “You can change it if you want. I thought you would’ve liked this shitty ass flick, but I guess not.”

“I just wanted to turn the volume down. Thought you were sleeping, oops. Sorry,” John gritted his teeth. Bro gave a breath of a laugh before turning the sound down on the TV. He set the remote in front of John’s crotch, lightly brushing his dick with his hand as he reached back. John felt his already semi-hard erection lurch forward at the gentle sensation. He sucked in a sharp breath and hoped for it to either go away or for Bro to not notice.

“Hey, John,” Bro began, causing John to bite his lip. “ _ Please, please, please tell me he is not going to say anything about my raging boner _ ,” John thought, extremely panicked.

“Thanks for being a good friend to Dave. Feel free to call me Dirk. I really like you and only people who I really like get to call me that.” Dirk grinned, gently kissing John’s neck.

John blinked once and all of a sudden Dirk’s warmth was gone. He had stood up, folded the blanket, shut off the TV and the string lights, and walked up the stairs before John could even react. He was left sitting alone in the dark, his thoughts a giant swirling mess.

“What just happened?” John slowly whispered out loud to himself, sitting up on the couch and planting his feet on the ground. “What is going on in this house?”

Although he was completely still in shock from the unexpected kiss, he shuffled upstairs and into Dave’s bedroom, where he stripped off all of his clothes except his boxers and got into the bed with Dave.

“Goodnight,” Dave mumbled, pressing his butt against John’s back as they slept away from each other. John laid wide awake, staring into the darkness of Dave’s room as he heard Dave sleepily say, “Sleep tight.”

How much stranger were the next three weeks going to get for John?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the writing was a little different than how the story was written 2 years ago hahahahhahaa...... My style has changed a little (hopefully it's not TOO noticeable)  
> thank you so much for reading this!!!!!!! I'm working on the next chapter RIGHT NOW!!!! (woohoo!)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah another chapter!!!!! O shit my dudes!!! I am being ACTIVE and WRITING. I feel like I've accomplished so much in the past week and writing has really helped me feel less stressed. I really want to finish this story before I go back to uni in ~1 week!!!

A few days after the kiss Dirk gave John, John’s head was still swirling. He wasn’t sure how he felt and he didn’t know what else to do besides wonder why it happened. He didn’t completely hate the thought of it, but it made his skin crawl whenever he was in close proximity with either Strider brother. He really enjoyed the way Dirk’s lips felt and how promiscuous the entire situation was. Whenever he recalled the event, he felt his skin light up like a firework with excitement. He was exhilarated by the fact that an older man showed some interest in him and had flirted with him. Could John even call what Dirk had done flirting? He had no idea, but he hoped it was flirting, because he really liked it and he wanted more.

The three of them sat down to breakfast, minus Jake because he was packing his belongings and taking a conference call up in Dirk’s bedroom. He had a flight later that afternoon to go to California for a few days for some sort of huge company meeting in Los Angeles.

“Pass the ketchup,” Dave motioned, reaching his arm out. John did as he was asked and also grabbed himself a piece of toast before taking a bite of it. Dave was literally shoveling his breakfast into his mouth, taking almost no time to breathe between bites. He was done before John even touched his bacon and Dirk raised an eyebrow at him.

“Dude, why are you so disgusting? Chew your damn food,” Dirk chuckled, shoving an entire piece of bacon in his mouth. John smiled at the two of them, realizing how similar they actually were. It was endearing and he loved watching the dynamic relationship they had unfold in front of him.

“I gotta shower and I wanted to go first. John uses all of the hot water and you take like an hour and a half, Bro,” Dave snarked back as he put his dish in the sink and chugged the rest of his orange juice before putting the cup in the sink as well. He scurried out of the kitchen and ran upstairs. Within a minute, the shower was running and music was blasting from the bathroom.

“He’s a weirdo,” John grinned, finishing up the food that was left on his plate. “Thanks for letting me crash here for a whole month. It’s super awesome of you.”

Dirk didn’t smile but he shifted in his seat, nodding very slightly. “Of course. I mean, Dave literally mentioned you were coming like two days before you got here, but hey, I’m glad to have ya.”

John laughed a little, pulling his napkin from his lap and placing it on the table. His hand rested on top of it as he stared off, his mind wandering back to the movie night and the gentle feeling of Dirk’s lips on his neck. Woah. He should probably not think about that while Dirk is sitting right next to him. When he came back to reality, he noticed that Dirk had placed his hand on top of John’s.

John quickly turned his head to look at Dirk. His sunglasses made it hard to see his eyes, but John tried to make eye contact.

“Wha-?” John started, trying to question the weird hand touch, but was cut off when Dirk said: “Do you like Dave?”

“What do you mean? Of course I like Dave; he’s my best friend!” John naively stated. He realized moments after he said that, that Dirk did not mean “like” as in just simply a friend way.

“No, dimwit, I mean, do you  _ like _ him? Like… as more than a friend?” Dirk tried to enunciate his words and spoke really slowly. Although he sounded like he was joking around, his face was entirely made of stone.

“Well, no… Not really. Why? He’s my best friend. I wouldn’t want to ruin that. We cuddle sometimes and maybe it seems like we’re dating but we’re definitely not. Totally platonic! Totally!” John stumbled over his words at first before talking much faster in an almost panicked manner. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Dave in a romantic way, especially since he was talking to said boy’s older and secretly protective brother.

“Don’t freak,” Dirk cooed, removing his hand from John’s and standing up from the table. He grabbed his and John’s plates and began doing the dishes. His back was facing John as he continued with, “I’m just curious. Don’t get weird.”

“No! I’m not!” John chided, feeling very weird despite Dirk requesting that he didn’t. “It’s just… Dave is my best friend! I could never love him as more than that but there might be someone else who I do feel strongly for?”

Dirk was about to question what John said but Jake paraded into the kitchen, two huge luggage bags in tow. He put them next to the front door before taking a seat next to John at the kitchen table.

“Any food left for me?” Jake rolled his eyes, noticing that there was only half a piece of bacon and a piece of toast left. He picked at both food items but didn’t eat more than that.

“Speaking of, you guys gotta fend for yourself tonight,” Dirk began, just as Dave walked into the kitchen, his towel wrapped around his hair and a pair of boxers on. “I’m taking Jake to the airport and then I’m going out to the bar with a couple friends.”

“Pizza?” Dave looked at John, hands in the air in a questioning manner. “We could order hot wings, too!”

“Hell yes,” John nodded vigorously. “We can finish Ouran, too.”

“A shitty shoujo anime and some wings and pizza? Sounds like a boy’s night, alright,” Dirk shook his hands at Dave, sprinkling him with water.

“Yeah, call it shitty all you want, Bro, but you were the one that got me into it and I know you’ve watched it like four times all the way through,” Dave called him out, returning back upstairs so he could get fully dressed.

  
  


“See ya never!” Dave stuck his tongue out at Jake and Dirk left the house. Dirk held up the middle finger and Jake gave him a small smile. Dave flopped onto the couch next to John after locking the door behind the older men. He whined out, “I fuckin’ hate Jake.”

“Really? You keep saying that but Jake literally hasn’t done anything since I’ve been here… He’s actually been either really nice or quiet,” John said. He gave him a half smile, resting his head against the back of the couch.

“Dude, he’s insane. I keep telling you this and you totally don’t believe me, but he’s C-R-A-Z-Y. With like a capital C. He literally treats Bro like shit when it’s just us in the house and he’s a real big dickbag toward me. I’m actually shocked he’s being so nice just because you’re here,” Dave crossed his arms, letting out a frustrated sigh.

“I totally don’t see any of this in him, but I’ll take your word for it. I’m still gonna be nice to him though!” John raised his shoulders and pushed out his bottom lip. “Sorry you gotta put up with this.”

“I told Bro to break up with him like, months ago, but he’s too stubborn to admit that I’m right. He’s literally so annoying,” Dave slumped back into the couch, looking like a brooding little kid who got put in time out.

“Let’s forget about them and play some video games, dude,” John suggested, retrieving two GameCube controllers from underneath the TV stand. He clicked the ON button and watched the screen light up with colors.

“I’m gonna kick your ass,” Dave laughed as he took a controller from John. “You suck at Super Smash Bros ‘cause you always play as Kirby. Kirby is lame, dude.”

“Uh, no! Kirby is the best. He’s shaped like a friend,” John snorted.

 

The night continued on with them playing multiple different GameCube games, a very intense game of checkers (which ended in Dave flipping the board after losing upwards of ten times), watching the rest of Ouran High School Host Club and crying at the end, and receiving two different food deliveries. By the time midnight rolled around, both of them were completely exhausted from doing nothing but lounging around all day and eating their weight in pizza and chocolate lava cakes from Dominos… twice.

“Come. Cuddle me.” Dave raised his arms up to the ceiling as he laid on his back. John passed by him after coming back from the bathroom and stopped in front of him, his feet almost touching his side. He didn’t say anything but laid next to Dave on the floor, face down. Dave whined and rolled onto his side, wrapping his arm around the other boy’s back. “That’s not how you cuddle.”

“Shhh,” John hushed him as he turned his head to face away from Dave and towards the TV. He became engrossed in the infomercial that was playing. It was about an old man describing how to use a vacuum cleaner to clean leaf debris out of your gutters. John mumbled out, “We should get one. Our gutters are so crowded.”

“Lame,” Dave pushed at his side, breaking John’s concentration. “Let’s watch a movie.”

“What movie?” John asked, flipping over so he was on his side and face to face with Dave. He propped his head up on his arm. “Let’s what a Nic Cage movie.”

“Fuck no, dude,” Dave swatted at John’s face. “I hate his movies, they suck.”

“How about The Croods?” John squeaked out as he swatted back at Dave’s hand. They continued swatting at each other as John managed to say through his laughter, “Do you even like anything?!”

“Sometimes you,” Dave said under his breath, pulling back his arm and tucking it against his chest.

The two of them stared at each other for a long moment in silence. The only noise in the room was their breath and the infomercial behind them. John quietly said, “What?”

“Nothing,” Dave waved his hand in front of his face. “Let’s watch The Croods.”

The two boys moved onto the couch from the floor and Dave turned on Netflix. His head was in John’s lap as he laid down and John sat up right because he had complained that his back was hurting from lying around so much.

John intertwined his hand into Dave’s blonde hair. It was soft and had a slight curl to the ends of the strands. John was barely paying attention to the movie as he focused on the texture and shade of his best friend’s head hair. He paused for a second and looked up at the TV screen and saw that the main climax of the movie was taking place. Even though John had seen The Croods multiple times before, mostly because of Nic Cage, he felt as if he had completely blanked out and missed the movie. It was almost as if he had gone into a trance for over half an hour while playing with Dave’s hair.

John looked down at Dave and saw that the other boy was fast asleep, a very soft snore escaping his slightly gaped mouth. He rested his own head against the back of the couch and before he knew it, he was fast asleep, too.

 

Around 3 A.M., the front door swung open and someone stumbled in, kicking one of the chairs at the kitchen table and waking up John with a start. He instinctively put his arm around Dave, even though he was still snoring, louder this time, in his lap.

“Hello?” John whispered, rubbing one of his eyes. He heard the front door shut and the lock click. “Dirk?”

“Ayooooo,” Dirk called out. As soon as he walked into the room, the harsh scent of whiskey hit John’s nostrils almost immediately. Dirk’s actions weren’t very planned as he crookedly walked through the living room and over to John. He rested an arm against a wall next to the couch and asked, “How’s ya night been, stud?”

“Pretty average,” John yawned out, stretching his arms toward the ceiling. “How was your’s?”

“So much betta now that I’m here with y’all,” Dirk drawled, his Southern accent coming out much stronger when he was intoxicated.

“You should go to bed,” John looked at the older man, concern in his expression.

“Naaaaah,” Dirk waved a hand in front of his face, causing him to sway forward. He fell forward a bit but caught himself on the armrest of the couch. His face was inches away from John’s. He leaned forward and looked John directly in the eyes. “You’ve got some… Eyes…”

“Are you trying to compliment my eyes?” John laughed out, bringing his hand up to his mouth to cover it so he didn’t laugh too hard. “You’re a real charmer, you know that Dirk?”

“Woah… How’d you know my real name?” Dirk straightened up and gave John a suspicious look, like he didn’t believe what he had just heard. “Maybe I am ready for bed.”

“You told me to call you Dirk,” John felt his face getting warm. The room was dim, but he could still see the accomplished look on Dirk’s face when he came to and realized he did in fact tell John to call him by his real name.

“I’m glad I did. I like… I like hearing you say it…” Dirk winked, losing his balance a little and shifting on his feet. He motioned to Dave, who was still asleep, and said, “Come to my room after you put him to bed,” and turned on his heel. He trudged up the stairs and John heard the bathroom door swing closed.

“Oh, gosh,” John’s cheeks lit up like a struck match. He looked down at Dave and felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him. Was he really going to meet Dirk in his room? He felt like he knew what was going to happen, but he really had no idea. His head felt like mashed potatoes. He stood, holding Dave’s head so that it wouldn’t fall when he got up, and placed a pillow underneath him. Dave didn’t stop snoring as John ascended the stairs, feeling jittery.

“ _ What am I getting myself into, _ ” John thought to himself. He was standing in front of Dirk’s bedroom door, hand resting on the knob. “ _ John, you’re absolutely fuckin’ insane. You might also be falling for your best friend’s older brother who has a boyfriend. Guess there’s nothing to lose, right? _ ”

He held his breath and turned the knob.

  
_ To be continued... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically the next chapter is just gonna be smut central and then the story line will continue lol (sorry for the spoiler!)  
> I was gonna put the smut in this chapter but eh why not just write it in a new chapter???  
> Thanks for reading <3


	5. Like diamonds in the sky

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> alrighty guys! this is like half plot half smut so I hope it's not all terrible???  
> ok sorry if this isnt that good I'm tryin my hardest i hope you guys like it though!!! i am not a very good smut writer ;v;

_A continuation of the previous chapter..._

 

John continued to hold his breath even after the door was wide open. He wasn’t sure how to speak. Dirk was lying on his queen sized bed with nothing on but his boxers. He barely noticed John entered the room since he was flicking through TV channels with the remote in his hand. He turned his head towards John and gave him a friendly smile.

“Hi…” John practically whispered, his face hotter than a stovetop. “Uhm…”

“I didn’t think you’d actually come upstairs,” Dirk started, sitting up in the bed and pushing his feet into his slippers before shuffling over towards John. “But I’m really glad you did.”

Before John could say anything in response, his chin was being cupped by Dirk’s hands and his lips met the older, taller man’s. He was frozen for a second before he melted into the warm of Dirk’s slow and steady movements. John pulled himself closer, wanting to feel every inch of his skin. Again, before John could react any further than trying to deepen the kiss, all physical touch was cut as Dirk stepped back.

“Slow,” Dirk hushedly murmured, grabbing John’s hand and bringing him towards the bed. John was wide eyed but followed him with his mouth slightly gaped, not really sure if any of this was actually happening or not.

“I,” John tried to say something but Dirk hushed him again.

“Don’t be nervous,” Dirk cooed, twisting both of them around and pushing John onto the bed. He sat down with a _thump_ and stared up at Dirk. His voice slurred a little as he said, “I’m gonna take re-e-eally good care of you…”

John just nodded as his lips interlocked with Dirk’s. He closed his eyes as the older boy pushed him back against the bed and climbed on top of him. John had never done anything like this with anyone else before, especially not someone who was so much older and definitely so much more experienced.

“What do you like?” Dirk whispered into John’s ear, causing his eyes to flicker open. He looked at Dirk and he laughed, shaking his head. “You don’t even know, do you know?”

John furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, feeling the embarrassment creeping through his spine. “I’m so-,” John tried to apologize, but was cut off by Dirk putting his body weight on him and kissing him to shut him up.

“I don’t care, John,” Dirk broke the kiss, rolling his eyes. “I just want you.”

Those words set off a reaction from John. He wrapped his hands around Dirk’s neck and pulled him close. His body weight was almost suffocating but John didn’t care, he just wanted Dirk as close as possible and his lips to never leave his again.

Their tongues danced together as Dirk began declothing John. He left his own boxers on as he pulled John’s shirt over his head and began unzipping his jeans. The TV noise in the background was the only thing covering up the sound of their heavy breathing and the small moans that were escaping John’s mouth as Dirk ran his hands up and down his body. He had never felt this feeling before--he had never been touched by another human like this. The furthest he had gone before was kissing his first and only girlfriend and that was in middle school.

“You smell so different from Jake,” Dirk murmured into John’s chest as he kissed and bit his way down the younger boy’s body. John tensed beneath the kisses but didn’t say anything. He felt weird. His skin began to sweat and he became nervous. “ _Why did he just say that?!_ ” John tried to reason with himself in his thoughts.

Dirk acted like he didn’t even say anything as he began pulling John’s pants off. He let them flop to the floor as he kissed around the band on his boxers. John couldn’t help it but his erection started to lose its steam. He just couldn’t get back into the mood after realizing…

“Dirk, stop,” John pushed at his forehead, shifting backwards and sitting up in the bed. Dirk looked confused but John shook his head. He began stuttering, “I can’t do this. You just compared me to Jake. I… I can’t. It’s weird. You’re dating someone. You’re older. I feel weird.”

Dirk nodded and didn’t say anything else. He stood up and threw John’s pants and shirt at him and retreated to his bathroom and closed the door. John heard the door lock and the light switch flick on. After John put his clothing back on, he heard the shower beginning to run.

“ _What am I even doing,_ ” John whimpered inside his head, leaning his head against Dirk’s closed door in the hallway. “ _I felt like shit before, but now I feel even worse_.”

John stayed like that for over ten minutes, trying to collect his head. Whatever he felt with Dirk was something he’d never felt before. His heart was aching as he stood there with his forehead pressed against the wood. He lightly banged it against the door, feeling like an idiot. Within the room, he heard the bathroom door unlock and open and Dirk changed the channel on the TV. John grit his teeth and opened Dirk’s door, walking in.

“You know what, forget it,” John threw his hands in the air. “I’ve never done a reckless thing in my life, I’ve only ever kissed one girl, and if my best friend hates me tomorrow at least I can die happy.”

Dirk was sitting on the bed, a towel wrapped around his waist, and wide eyes as John approached him. John held Dirk’s head in his hands, his hair dripping onto his wrists.

“Don’t tell anyone,” John said, kissing Dirk very softly, “I think I have a crush on you.”

“Well, don’t tell anyone,” Dirk put his hands on John’s as they rested on his cheeks, “I thought that when you walked out of my bedroom door, I was never going to get to hold you again. I guess I was wrong. Glad I was.”

The two became a tangled mess of limbs and kisses as they rolled onto the bed. Hands intertwined with each other and each other’s hair and multiple squeaks escaped their mouths because of slightly too excited bites to each other’s skin. While nothing progressed past kisses because John admitted he felt as if he wasn’t ready to continue further, the two enjoyed each other’s physical warmth above the covers of Dirk’s bed for a couple hours.

John rolled over and checked the clock that hung on Dirk’s wall. It was a quarter past three in the morning and he realized Dave was still asleep downstairs on the couch.

“I think I’m gonna go to bed,” John yawned out, rubbing his eyes. “I also need to go wake up Dave and tell him to go to bed, too.”

“Sleep with me,” Dirk stated. There wasn’t even a questioning tone in his voice.

“No,” John shook his head, frowning. “I don’t want anyone to know about this. Even Dave. Especially Dave. God forbid Dave ever finds out. God, I feel guilty…”

“Shut up,” Dirk smacked John’s shoulder playfully. “Dave… Is a pretty sensitive guy. But he would get over it. Probably. Hopefully.”

“No, please, don’t tell him,” John whined, rolling back over to look at Dirk. He still had his sunglasses on. Why hadn’t John noticed that before? They were practically part of his face, so he guessed he had just looked right past it. Weird.

“I won’t. I don’t want to hurt him just as much as you don’t want to hurt him,” Dirk rolled his eyes, sitting up from his laying position. “Go to bed, kid.”

“See you tomorrow?” John gave him a small smile, looking up at him.

“Same time, same place?” Dirk laughed and nudged him.

“Sure,” John giggled, pressing his forehead against the other boy’s body. He was so warm and John loved it. “Goodnight, Dirk.”

“Goodnight, John,” Dirk smiled back at him as John rolled out of the bed reluctantly and walked out the door. He headed down the stairs to wake up Dave so that they could move into his bed and get some sleep. John was exhausted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote out a long ass outline for this story but I'm kinda going against that (since I also added this chapter to it bcuz i wanted a separate one for the smut n such) so i hope all of it wraps up nicely and there's no weird gaps or holes in the plot by the end  
> the story is almost over it's very short!!!!! only about 2 or 3 more chapters cause John has to go back home soon ha


End file.
